Teixeira, 29, is a Portuguese defender who has featured for teams in the Belgian Pro League, the Swiss Super League and the Israeli Premier League with Maccabi Haifa. He spent five seasons with Zurich before moving on to Standard Liege on a free transfer. At Liege, he features as the club’s starting centerback, playing 13 matches for the team this season and scoring a goal in that time.

Talks with the player are in the preliminary stages, with no concrete offers on the table. However, there is a mutual interest in getting a deal done.

The 6’2″ centerback is currently under contract with Liege through 2017. This will likely mean that NYCFC would have to pay a transfer fee for the player. Zurich last paid a $1.2 million transfer fee for Teixeira back in 2010. However, they parted with the centerback in 2014 on a free transfer to Leige.

Don’t know much about Teixeira but if they like him they should get him in as soon as possible. The biggest problem on defense NYCFC had was poor communication. They need to get their back line set and let them start to learn to work together. That of course is separate from getting a true defensive midfielder to cover for Pirlo. I hear Kitchen and DC United are having trouble getting a deal done…maybe they should explore a trade.